The invention relates generally to color video signal recording and/or reproducing systems, and more particularly to systems for recording a color video signal on a recording medium, without spaces between adjacent tracks and without beat disturbances, and to systems for reproducing the signal thus recorded.
In a conventional video signal recording and reproducing system the reproducing head simultaneously reproduces video signals recorded on mutually adjacent video tracks, as a consequence a tracking error which occurs at the time of reproducing. Beat disturbances then arise in the reproduced picture. Accordingly, in order to prevent a generation of beat disturbances, video tracks are recorded on a recording medium with unrecorded areas between them, called "guard bands".
The beat disturbances decrease as the width of the guard bands increase. There is a poor utilization efficiency of the recording medium. Therefore, from the standpoint of improving the utilization efficiency of a recording medium, it is desirable to reduce or eliminate the guard bands.
Accordingly, a known system, records and reproduces by means of heads having an obliquely directed gap. Thus, it is possible to reproduce in a manner which prevents a beat disturbance, even without guard bands. In this system, two heads have gaps with azimuths which are oppositely inclined with respect to the perpendicular of the scanning direction followed by the heads, for example. These heads are used to record a video signal alternately on a recording medium with contiguous tracks, without guard bands. In the reproducing system, a track is reproduced without loss if it has been recorded by a head having the same azimuth as a reproducing head. However, since the contiguous track has been recorded by a head having an azimuth of opposite direction, the reproducing loss is very great. As a result, almost no beat disturbance occurs from the contiguous track.
A system is capable of recording and reproducing color video signals with a relative narrow frequency band, when a color video signal is separated into a luminance signal and a carrier chrominance signal. The luminance signal is frequency modulated, and the carrier chrominance signal is frequency converted to a band which is lower than the frequency band of the frequency-modulated luminance signal. The resulting frequency-modulated luminance signal and frequency-converted carrier chrominance signal are multiplexed and recorded.
When this system is used with a recording system having azimuth heads, a high frequency band frequency-modulated luminance signal can be reproduced without beat disturbance. However, with regard to a frequency-converted chrominance signal in a low frequency band, there is a small reproducing loss due to azimuth. For this reason, there is a problem of preventing beat disturbances, due to reproduction of contiguous tracks.